Some work in Progress

Jan is always a strange month, and I have been busy with Kent and Marias, but I am currently making assets to place along to Etherley.

Here are my 2 current examples.

Etherly Station

No current details but it will be pretty well detailed. The station building is still there but converted into apartments.

See the building Here

Escomb Saxon Church.

As you can see a simple shape, but some small elements are still missing which will be added.

Draw Distance

There is often talk about how far out to model, and like most things it's all down to user preference.

Here you can see that I have modeled out about a mile and really that is more than far enough. From a drivers point of view most of the time it is not needed, but the detail level out that far is not fine and I have added it so that the scene looks full.
I find it is best to keep the detail close to the track and do less and less as you move away from the track. I never have a hard edge to my world, I always try and fade the details out so that the scene looks more natural.

I am lucky that much of my route is full of scenes like this, building Darlington and Durham will prove more challenging but the same rules apply. Bishop Auckland and surrounding villages will be modeled in full (generic housing and buildings where I don't have any good reference material)

Here is a shot of Etherley Tip

My time frame is a little earlier than depicted in the flickr image, and I'm not exactly sure what the scene would have looked like in the mid 50s but I guess this will do for now. Once I have modelled more of Etherley Station and Witton Park the scene will be an interesting contrast to what is at Bishop Auckland.

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Towards Escomb

As I work my way along the track to Witton Park I find myself adding more foliage than was probably there.

I don't mind, I will add what I like and what I think makes for an interesting view.

A few miles of views like this till I get up past Witton-le-wear.

Grass Tree Bush

All the best

What an interesting year it's been! lots of drama as usual, a few doing the 'Hokey Cokey', a few lobbing toys from their pram and arkham asylum re in acting ground hog day again.
Never a dull moment for sure. :)

For me it's been a busy year, a difficult one but rewarding.
The biggest thing to happen on my route was Bob helping me with the track, I say helping me, I mean helping himself.
I just watched from the side line at his wonderful work.
So my route was about 23 miles, it is now a wopping 100+ miles and a pretty impressive network.
The name changed from Wear Valley Railway to Weardale & Teesdale Railway to reflect the new lines, it should make for an interesting experience.

When it was just me working on the route I would just tinker here and there, drift from one asset to another without a real plan of how to tackle the project. It is nothing like a work project, with a team so much more can be done and progress can be amazing.
One man working on it 2 or 3 hours a night will always be a challenge.

My advice for creators in 2013 is to pair up or find a like minded group to enjoy your hobby with, so much more enjoyable and feels worthwhile.
The most important thing is to have fun and enjoy what you do because you will never have the time back!

All the best for the new year.

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It's nice to be important, but it's more important to be nice.

Latherbrush Bridge

I am almost happy with the foliage (for now) so I am now able to start laying assets along the route. Here is an example at Latherbrush Bridge.

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Embankment Update

Almost there, looks different enough now, still need to match some colours.

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